Life jackets on statues in bid to get home water safety message

SAFETY FIRST: Ben Hayllar puts a life jacket on the Spirit of Napier as part of a Safer Boating Week promotion yesterday.

A man flown to hospital in Hastings after a boating tragedy which killed another man on the Mahia Peninsula coast on Thursday has been discharged.

Hawke's Bay Hospital staff said the 48-year-old man was discharged on Thursday night, although he had been described initially as in a serious but stable condition.

He had earlier been reported to have injured his back in the incident which claimed the life of Malcolm Charles Blake, 57, when a small boat was flipped by a wave during a cray pot expedition about 10am on Thursday.

Also in the boat was the 48-year-old man's wife, and their 16-year-old son, who climbed a 30-metre bank above the accident site and, dressed only in shorts and dive boots covered about 2km across farmland to raise the alarm.

Mr Blake is survived by partner Natasha, six children and eight grandchildren. His funeral is being held at a family address in Kaiwaitau Rd, Mahia, where his funeral service will be held on Monday afternoon.

His death was the fourth death on North Island coasts in less than 48 hours. Another 57-year-old died about midday on Tuesday while diving at Waikuku Beach, Far North, and two men, 22 and 37, are thought to have perished when fishing in a small boat at Martins Bay, near Warkworth, on Tuesday night.

On October 1, a 5-year-old boy disappeared in a drowning at Papamoa, near Tauranga.

Yesterday marked the start of Safer Boating Week, aiming to reduce the number of deaths in boating mishaps.

"Every year we see an average of around 15 boaties die in recreational boating accidents," said National Pleasure Boat Safety Forum and Maritime New Zealand deputy director Lindsay Sturt. "We know that about two-thirds of them could have been saved if they wore a life jacket."

The Forum launched a Statues for Life campaign, in which lifejackets were put on statues and street figures, including Pania of the Reef and the Spirit of Napier, and an Emerson St Wave in Time sculpture.